How do you prove you're NOT unwell?

[Beautiful Propaganda]

This issue has been going on for about four years, but I guess I decided I wanted an outsider's opinion. It would probably help because I have been very stubborn about this.
I'm sensitive to spirits [or at least that's how I explain it]. First I started seeing and hearing, usually hearing them in 2005, during the summer. I told my mom and dad about it, because there was one that scared me. It never said anything, but whenever I felt it nearby I would get a rush of andrenaline and feel terrified. The ghosts stopped coming as often once the summer was over [around October] and I felt pretty okay.
In January 2006 my mom took me to a psychiatrist and she told him about me being obsessive about things [I don't like other people moving my stuff around or taking it, which my sister does quite a lot.] and my knowing about ghosts. He said I had OCD and gave me Lexapro [which is an anti-depressant I'm pretty sure], which in short didn't work.
Then my mom took me to another psychiatrist later in 2006 and pulled me out of school. The psychiatrist diagnosed me with something else [sorry, I can't remember sweatdrop ] an gave me blue capsules to take. I don't know the name or what they were, but again they didn't do anything and gave some crappy side-effects.
In 2007 she took me to another psychiatrist and this one said I'm autistic. No pills this time, but my mom still homeschools me even though I don't want to, because I "can't function normally". She also signed me up for sex ed for "developmentally disadvantaged teenagers". I went to three of the classes [they were like last month] and for some reason they didn't teach any actual sex ed, and I came home absolutely pissed off and ready to kill something, for no reason that I can think of.
Thanks for reading my rant, my question is- am I really unwell and don't want to admit it? I'm pretty stubborn about things concerning me, and I like the people in this guild, so I'm asking here.  

[Morgandria]

Beautiful Propaganda

This issue has been going on for about four years, but I guess I decided I wanted an outsider's opinion. It would probably help because I have been very stubborn about this.
I'm sensitive to spirits [or at least that's how I explain it]. First I started seeing and hearing, usually hearing them in 2005, during the summer. I told my mom and dad about it, because there was one that scared me. It never said anything, but whenever I felt it nearby I would get a rush of andrenaline and feel terrified. The ghosts stopped coming as often once the summer was over [around October] and I felt pretty okay.
In January 2006 my mom took me to a psychiatrist and she told him about me being obsessive about things [I don't like other people moving my stuff around or taking it, which my sister does quite a lot.] and my knowing about ghosts. He said I had OCD and gave me Lexapro [which is an anti-depressant I'm pretty sure], which in short didn't work.
Then my mom took me to another psychiatrist later in 2006 and pulled me out of school. The psychiatrist diagnosed me with something else [sorry, I can't remember sweatdrop ] an gave me blue capsules to take. I don't know the name or what they were, but again they didn't do anything and gave some crappy side-effects.
In 2007 she took me to another psychiatrist and this one said I'm autistic. No pills this time, but my mom still homeschools me even though I don't want to, because I "can't function normally". She also signed me up for sex ed for "developmentally disadvantaged teenagers". I went to three of the classes [they were like last month] and for some reason they didn't teach any actual sex ed, and I came home absolutely pissed off and ready to kill something, for no reason that I can think of.
Thanks for reading my rant, my question is- am I really unwell and don't want to admit it? I'm pretty stubborn about things concerning me, and I like the people in this guild, so I'm asking here.

Sadly, it's not as easy as saying "None of these drugs have worked" and "All these doctors were wrong" when it comes to mental disorders. I've been through more than a dozen psych drugs, and therapies. None of them seem to help, or are worth the side-effect(s). Despite that, I still remain bi-polar. Not finding the right treatment right off the bat doesn't somehow prove that you're healthy and don't need treatment at all.

It can be a real hassle to find a doctor who is both competent, and whom you are comfortable with. Often people have to go through more than a few to find the right one. You always have the right to get a different opinion. However, if you keep getting diagnoses that are similar, there comes a point where you really need to accept that there is something wrong. Otherwise you'll just be living in denial.

Lexapro has applications for depression, anxiety, and OCD. It's not just an anti-depressant.

I don't know you at all, and I'm not a medical professional. I can't tell you whether you are unwell or not. However, from what you've shared I think that your parents are right to be concerned about you.

You won't find out what's wrong (or not wrong) unless you keep trying different treatments and therapies. If in the end you find a way to cope with whatever it is, without drugs or doctors, then that's fine - but you need to exhaust that option first.  

[Beautiful Propaganda]

That's true, but none of the things people say actually fit me. OCD is like, obbsessive organizing, and I'm not organized at all. And people with autisim are majorly 'odd', sometimes they don't even talk. Fits my sister better than me.  

[Morgandria]

Beautiful Propaganda

That's true, but none of the things people say actually fit me. OCD is like, obbsessive organizing, and I'm not organized at all. And people with autisim are majorly 'odd', sometimes they don't even talk. Fits my sister better than me.

The problem with that is - like me, you are not a doctor or medical professional. Your understanding of these diseases and disorders is not going to be as comphrehensive as a doctor's or psychiatrist's.

OCD is more than people who are particular about where they last left their things. Autism is more than "oddness". There are varying degrees of most disorders, and there are atypical symptoms for them as well. And unless you're trained to recognize these differences in symptom, you might miss them, or think they're something else completely.

I understand that you're likely fed up with labels and drugs and treatments, and feeling like people treat you like crap because mental illness makes you inferior in their eyes. I really do. It's frustrating, and the drugs can suck - but they may help you lead a better life, by managing symptoms that can really cause problems.

If you disagree badly enough, when you're an adult and no longer under parental authority you can tell the doctors to take a hike, and not take anything. It's your choice, and your right. But until such a point, if your parents want you to continue treatment, there's not much you can do.  

[Sanguina Cruenta]

I don't know whether or not you have a mental disorder (you sound fine to me, but I don't know you, and your mother lives with you, so she'd know better than I would) but really the issue with a mental disorder is whether it interferes with your everyday life. A person could be mildly schizotypal or anxious or absolutely terrified of elephants. But if you never see an elephant in your life, then it's not going to affect your day to day life. If you're functioning fine, then there's no problem.

On the other hand, you personally might not be aware of it if you're not functioning properly. You know how addicts might think everything is going fine until they come home and find all their friends and family there for an intervention? Similar to that. You may not be aware of how differently you are behaving.

I'm of the opinion that people are far too eager to rush off to a shrink and get on some drugs. And that shrinks seem far too eager to make diagnoses and push their drugs. I blame the American medical system. But at this point there's nothing you personally can do about it. You'll have to wait until you're old enough to make your own medical choices. (The fact that they all diagnosed you with something different rather annoys me. Personally I might go to a few more and see what they said. There might be a consensus reached, or you might get some different diagnoses. You could collect them.)

OCD is an anxiety disorder. You feel anxious, and compelled to perform a particular action, which alleviates the anxiety. Which in turn reinforces the impression that performing that particular action is necessary in some way, and beneficial. You may also hear voices, have words or mantras repeating in your head, or feel threatened.

Autism is a developmental disorder linked to intelligence and to social interaction. However, there are people who are highly intelligent who are strongly autistic. It involves an inability to understand some social or cultural elements. The autistic are less likely to make eye contact. They may have engineers in their family. (This is actually true.) They favour the practical and intellectual over the emotional, and may excell at mathematics, physics, art, or music. They have a tendency to obsess about details, which is a reason they can be so good at subjects such as these. There's one autistic woman in particular who is a successful professor. But she doesn't get people. The autistic think in a totally different way to most people. They can do amazing things, like memorise phone books or know what day any date you name is, was, or will be. But the emotional interaction with other people is something they really don't get. Like, they could go to a funeral, yeah? And everyone would start crying at the same time, and they'd feel like there had been some sort of signal that they'd missed. Or everyone would want to start dating at around 14 and they'd not understand why people felt compelled to do this.

If any of that sounds familiar to you, you may want to read up on autism. Temple Grandin has written some books, and Oliver Sacks has one called "An Anthropologist on Mars".